Just because companies have monopoly power and owe their power (property rights and all) to the state, doesn't mean that market mechanisms have become unimportant. Markets serve as a serious constraint on the choices open to the directors of almost any company. This is why I ask what you mean by 'socialism': to many, this means doing away with markets, and if this is what you mean I think you seriously underestimate the role of markets in making the current system function, when you say that the current system is already substantially socialised. Fred
--- Greg Schofield <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The means of production are mediated by the state > through directors. When I said that this was not > unrelated to the apparent fall of state-capitalism, > it is because the bourgeoisie are now so dependant > on the state that they must reduce it to a shadow of > its former self in order to have the freedom to act > as if the means of production is indeed their > private property. [...] > > PS hand in hand with socialisation the market has > become all but exitinct, though its form remains > especially at the consumer end of things. The > speculative market is perhaps the last hold out of > market mechanisms, which of course is a parody of > their former function (speculative exchanges are > very much removed from the exchanges of actual value > - the historical purpose of real markets). > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com
